Three Blatant Acts of Racism Against Obama

Three Blatant Acts of Racism Against Obama When Barack Obama became the first African-American elected president on November 4, 2008, the world viewed it as a signal of racial progress. But after Obama took office, he was the target of racist illustrations, conspiracy theories, and Islamophobia. Do you know the tactics used to attack him on the basis of race? This analysis covers three blatant acts of racism against Obama. The Birther Debate Throughout his presidency, Barack Obama was dogged by rumors that he was not an American by birth. Instead, the â€Å"birthers†- as the people spreading this rumor are known- say that he was born in Kenya. Although Obama’s mother was a white American, his father was a black Kenyan national. His parents, however, met and married in the United States, which is why the birther conspiracy has been deemed equal parts silly and racist. The birthers have also refused to accept as valid  the documentation provided by  Obama that proves he was born in Hawaii. Why is this racist? New York Times columnist Timothy Egan explained that the birther movement â€Å"has little to do with reality and everything to do with the strangeness of Obama’s background- especially his race. He continued, Many Republicans refuse to accept that Obama could come from such an exotic stew and still be ‘American.’ †¦So, even though the certificate of live birth first made public in 2008 is a legal document that any court would have to recognize, they demanded more.† When Donald Trump repeated the claims of birthers in April 2011, the president responded by releasing his long form birth certificate. This move did not completely quiet the rumors about Obama’s origins. But the more documentation the president released about his birthplace, the less ground the birthers had to suggest that the black president did not belong in office. Trump continued sending Twitter posts questioning the birth certificate authenticity through 2014. Political Caricatures of Obama Before and after his presidential election, Barack Obama has been depicted as subhuman in graphics, email, and posters. While turning politicians into caricatures is nothing new, the ones used to criticize Obama frequently have racial overtones. The president has been portrayed as a shoeshine man, an Islamic terrorist, and a chimp, to name a few. The image of his altered face has been shown on a product called Obama Waffles in the manner of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben. The depictions of Obama as ape-like have arguably sparked the most controversy, considering that blacks have been portrayed as monkey-like for centuries to suggest that they’re inferior to other groups. Still, when Marilyn Davenport, an elected official in the Republican Party of Orange County, Calif., circulated an email portraying Obama and his parents as chimps, she initially defended the image as political satire. Mike Luckovich, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, had a different take. He pointed out to National Public Radio that the image wasn’t a cartoon but Photoshopped. â€Å"And it was crude and it was racist,† he said. â€Å"And cartoonists are always sensitive. We want to make people think- we even want to tick people off occasionally, but we don’t want our symbolism to overwhelm our message. †¦I would never show Obama or an African American as a monkey. That’s just racist. And we know the history of that.† The â€Å"Obama Is Muslim† Conspiracy Much like the birther debate, the debate over whether Obama is a practicing Muslim appears to be racially tinged. While the president did spend some of his youth in the predominantly Muslim country of Indonesia, there’s no evidence that he himself has practiced Islam. In fact, Obama has said that neither his mother nor his father was  particularly religious. At the National Prayer Breakfast in February 2011, the president described his father as a â€Å"nonbeliever† whom he met one time,  according to the  Los Angeles  Times  and his mother as having â€Å"a certain skepticism about organized religion.† Despite his parents’ feelings about religion, Obama has said repeatedly that he practices Christianity. In fact, in his 1995 memoir Dreams From My Father, Obama describes his decision to become a Christian during his time as a political organizer on Chicago’s South Side. He had little reason at that time to hide being a Muslim and pretend to be a Christian as it was before the 9/11 terrorist attacks and his entry into national politics. So, why do rumors about Obama being a Muslim persist, despite his declarations to the contrary? NPR senior news analyst Cokie Roberts faults racism. She  remarked  on ABC’s â€Å"This Week† that a fifth of Americans believe Obama’s a Muslim because it’s unacceptable to say, â€Å"I don’t like him ’cause he’s black.† On the other hand, â€Å"it’s acceptable to dislike him because he’s a Muslim,† she declared. Like the birther movement, the Muslim conspiracy movement against Obama highlights the fact that the president’s different. He has a â€Å"funny name,† a so-called exotic upbringing, and Kenyan heritage. Rather than  point  out their distaste for these differences, some members of the public find it convenient to label Obama a Muslim, This serves to marginalize him and is used as an excuse to question his leadership and actions in the war on terror. Racial Attacks or Political Differences? Not every attack against President Obama is racist, of course. Some of his detractors took issue with his policy alone and not with his skin color. When the president’s opponents use racial stereotypes to undermine him or accuse him of lying about his origins because he’s different- biracial, bred outside of the continental U.S., and born to a Kenyan father with a â€Å"strange name†- an undercurrent of racism is often at play. As former President Jimmy Carter said in 2009: â€Å"When a radical fringe element of demonstrators †¦begin to attack the president of the United States as an animal or as a reincarnation of Adolf Hitler†¦people who are guilty of that kind of personal attack against Obama have been influenced to a major degree by a belief that he should not be president because he happens to be African American.†

The Evolutionary Arms Race - Natural Selection

The Evolutionary Arms Race - Natural Selection Species, in order to evolve, must accumulate adaptations that are favorable for the environment in which they live. These preferred traits are what make an individual more fit and able to live long enough to reproduce. Since ​natural selection chooses these favorable characteristics, they get passed down to the next generation. Other individuals that do not exhibit those traits die out and, eventually, their genes are no longer available in the gene pool. As these species evolve, other species that are in close symbiotic relationships with those species must also evolve. This is called co-evolution and it is often compared to an evolutionary form of an arms race. As one species evolves, the other species it interacts with must also evolve or they may go extinct. Symmetrical Arms Race In the case of a symmetrical arms race in evolution, the co-evolving species are changing in the same way. Usually, a symmetrical arms race is a result of competition over a resource in an area that is limited. For example, the roots of some plants will grow deeper than others to obtain water. As the water level goes down, only the plants with the longer roots will survive. Plants with shorter roots will be forced to adapt by growing longer roots, or they will die. The competing plants will keep evolving longer and longer roots, trying to outperform each other and get the water. Asymmetrical Arms Race As the name implies, an asymmetrical arms race will result in the species to adapt in different ways. This type of evolutionary arms race still results in the co-evolution of the species. Most asymmetrical arms races come from a predator-prey relationship of some sort. For instance, in the predator-prey relationship of lions and zebras, the result is an asymmetrical arms race. The zebras become faster and stronger to escape the lions. That means the lions need to become stealthier and better hunters in order to keep eating zebras. The two species are not evolving the same types of traits, but if one evolves, it creates the need in the other species to also evolve in order to survive. Evolutionary Arms Races and Disease Humans are not immune to the evolutionary arms race. In fact, the human species is accumulating adaptations constantly to fight disease. The host-parasite relationship is a good example of an evolutionary arms race that can include humans. As parasites invade the human body, the human immune system will kick in to try to eliminate the parasite. Therefore, the parasite must have a good defense mechanism to be able to stay in the human without being killed off or expelled. As the parasite adapts and evolves, the human immune system must adapt and evolve as well. Similarly, the phenomenon of antibiotic resistance in bacteria is also a type of evolutionary arms race. Doctors often prescribe antibiotics for patients that have a bacterial infection in hopes that the antibiotics will stimulate the immune system and kill off the disease-causing pathogen. Over time and repeated uses of antibiotics, only bacteria that have evolved to be immune to the antibiotics will survive and the antibiotics will no longer be effective in killing off the bacteria. At that point, another treatment will be necessary and force the human to either co-evolve to fight off the stronger bacteria, or find a new cure to which the bacteria are not immune. This is the reason why it is important for doctors not to overprescribe antibiotics every time a patient is sick.